Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510230010
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-12 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: STEVE KARK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They are, however, words that are largely unknown. This is because they happen to be the scientific name of an animal known to most by another, far less glamorous name. More common is that given by the Powhatan Indians of our eastern shore. They chose to call this unfortunate little animal an opossum.
Though the opossum is a unique and fascinating creature, it has been the victim of misguided hostility and unfounded myth for many years.
For one thing, it would be fair to say that the possum (as we out this way know him) is not among nature's most elegant-looking creations. Indeed, he is one of the most ill-favored beasts in the animal kingdom.
Even as early as 1608, Capt. John Smith - whose escapades with Powhatan princess Pocahontas would not go unnoticed by cartoonists at Disney Studios - had this to say about the female of the species: "An opossum hath a head like a Swine, and a taile like a Rat, and ... under her belly she hath a bagge wherein she lodgeth, carrieth, and sucketh her young."
Possums generally grow no larger than healthy tomcats. They have grayish-white fur, except on their faces, where it often tends to be white.
Although they have hairy black legs and feet, their toes and ears, like our own, are naked and pink. They too have opposable "thumbs": Only in their case these appear on the hind feet, which combined with a grasping tail are especially useful for climbing trees.
Contrary to popular belief, possums do not sleep by hanging upside down by their tails. Like most mammals, they sleep in dens securely on the ground.
Possums are unique in that they are the only mammal with 50 teeth and the only marsupial - a mammal with a pouch - native to North America. Kangaroos are marsupials native to Australia.
For the most part, possums lead inconspicuous lives: They are most active at night and prefer a variable diet within the safety of the forest. However, because they adapt well to human presence and will eat just about anything, it is not unusual to find them in town.
Along with human garbage and pet food, possums will eat carrion when available. It is, ironically, roadkill that usually attracts them to our roadways.
Indeed, this latter behavior is most responsible for the animosity directed at them. For one thing, because we see them either frozen in the glare of our headlights or dead at the roadside, we presume that possums are stupid animals. They don't, one might say, even have sense enough to get out of the road at our approach.
Consider, though, that we're talking apples and oranges. How does one measure intelligence in this sort of situation? Possums are, after all, very good at being possums.
If long-term survival is the yardstick by which we measure smarts, possums easily come out ahead. According to evolutionary theory, human beings and our ancestors have been around a few million years. Possums, on the other hand, have been around, mostly unchanged, since the age of the dinosaurs.
One early ancestor that looked much like today's possum emerged in the Triassic period, which would mean that these animals, or something very much like them, have been around for 200 million years.
If for no other reason than this, we ought to pull over when driving and give them the right of way out of respect for their ability to survive. The way we're going now, we should be so lucky.
Besides, who could blame them for playing possum? If your ancestors lived through the age of the dinosaurs, you'd freeze, too, if you saw some 2-ton object bearing down on you out of the darkness.
Didn't you learn anything from "Jurassic Park''?
Steve Kark is an instructor at Virginia Tech and a correspondent for The Roanoke Times' New River Valley bureau. He writes from his home in scenic Rye Hollow, in a remote part of Giles County south of Pearisburg.
by CNB